The lines quoted in the Gentleman's Magazine, (page 240,) “ Félicité vaine, Qu'on ne peut saisir, Trop près de la peine, Pour être un plaisir," remind me of some, not dissimilar, by Buchaut, a poet of the seventeenth century, and at least of equal merit "Félicité passée, Qui ne peut plus revenir, Pourquoi, en te perdant, N'ai-je pas perdu le souvenir ?" The reviewer in the Quarterly doubts whether Mr. Huskisson had ever belonged to the Jacobin Club, or to that of the Feuillans (page 176.) Probably not to the former, though a contrary opinion has long prevailed; but the belief expressed, that the Feuillans were not formed when he was attached to the English Embassy, will, I apprehend, be contradicted by the fact, that this society, which originated with La Fayette and Bailly, in counteraction of the violent proceedings of the Jacobins, was founded so early as the 12th of May, 1790. Subsequently, even the Jacobins were impeached as rather slack in the race of crime; and the Cordelier Club was instituted, under the appropriate banners of Danton, Cloots, Hébert, Camille Desmoulins, and colleagues, in order to give a further impulse to the destructive energies of that calamitous period; but Robespierre, to whose bosom we may warrantably transfer the rankling emotions expressed by Tasso's Tancred "Vivrò fra i mei tormenti, e fra le cure, Robespierre, (jealous of emulation even in congenial pursuits and kindred spirits,) succeeded in quenching this spark of independent action in the blood of its promoters, on the 5th of April, 1794, or, if not wholly extinguished, it lost its most active powers of evil, which became concentrated in its triumphant rival for above three months more. Suetonius, after devoting many a page to the cool and unreproving relation of the horrors of Nero's reign, closes the narrative by something like an expression of surprise at the world's forbearance. "Tale portentum," we may equally say of Robespierre, "paullo minus quatuordecim menses (from 31st May, 1793, to 27th July, 1794,) perpessus terrarum orbis, tandem destituit, initium facientibus Gallis," &c. (Suet. in Nerone, cap. xl.) And I may add "Jam non ad culmina rerum, Injustos crevisse queror; tolluntur in altum, (Claudiani in Rufinum, lib. i., 21.) LOUIS XIV. AND NAPOLEON. TO THE EDITOR OF THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. Cork, March, 1843. MR. URBAN-There are periods and characters exhaustless of interest, because ever teeming with events deeply affecting, by direct or consequent influences, civilised society, not only in its largest scale of contemplation, but in its minutest dependancies; and few, if any, historical epochs present, I may confidently affirm, claims on our consideration or inquiry, superior to the reigns of Louis XIV. and Napoleon. Both equally assumed to be, and virtually were, the impersonations or types of the State; for the emphatic "L'Etat, c'est moi," of Louis, we find literally repeated and specially adopted by Napoleon. "Je répéte encore que véritablement la Chose Publique-L'Etat, c'est moi," are his expressions the 7th of September, 1816; and, on the 29th of February before, he had asserted, "qu'il eût pu être considéré à lui-seul, comme la véritable constitution de l'Empire." Again, on the 16th of March, same year, in an interview with my near relative, Colonel, now Lieutenant-General, Sir H. S. Keating,* his language was not less forcible, "Je suis la patrie." (See Las Cases under these dates, as also Bignon's history, tome viii., page 68, the Gentleman's Magazine for November, 1838, page 482, &c.) Thus, circumstances perfectly insignificant respecting ordinary individuals or monarchs, acquire a paramount importance in relation to such personages, forming, as they do, the absorbing centre of contemporaneous attraction.† Accurate information, therefore, on their characters and habits, is proportionally desirable. It is with this impression that I subjoin, 1st—some observations, corrective of a very prevalent error in regard to Louis-the Rhameses of modern times; and, 2nd-a series of authentic facts illustrative of the earlier years and preparatory development of the genius of the Emperor, very recently disclosed to light. The dawn of "Le Grand Siécle," or reign of the Great King, as, by acknowledged pre-eminence, it is now distinguished, after his release from the chain of Mazarin's habitual ascendancy, was marked by no occurrence of a private nature which has excited more enduring sympathy than the circumstances attending the young monarch's passion for Louise de la Vallière, and this lady's resulting fate and feelings. Nothing connected with her name can fail to command attention, or should be suffered to remain discolored or fallacious. I, therefore, may, with some confidence, *He was the first general officer so promoted, after the higher ranks of the army were opened to Catholics in 1817. (My father's grand-nephew.) + The Royal Library contains no less than 531 engraved portraits of Louis, and 433 of Napoleon, with 300 of Henry IV. The number of engravings in that rich repository altogether, is 900,516, of which 1,805 are of Rembrandt. 90,566 are portraits. reckon upon the reader's indulgence, while I indicate and rectify the long-existing misconception, which applies to her the personally-depreciating, and wellknown lines of Madame de Sévigné's profligate kinsman and maligner, Bussi-Rabutin "Que Déodatus est heureux, De baiser ce bec amoureux, But the truth is, as has been demonstrated by M. Bazin and others, that this stanza of licentious song was written in 1659, more than two years before the future favorite, then not fifteen, had left her native Touraine, or had ever been seen by her royal lover; for it was not until after the marriage of our Henrietta Anne with Philip of Orleans, which was solemnised the 31st of March, 1661, that Mademoiselle de la Vallière arrived at court as maid of honor to the Princess. In consequence of the joyful and unexpected birth of Louis, whose mother had been childless for three and twenty years of wedlock, (16151638,) he was popularly surnamed "Dieu-donné,”—a God-send, here Latinised Deodatus,* and the lady referred to with so expansive a feature, was Marie Mancini, one of Cardinal Mazarin's nieces, afterwards wife of the Roman Prince, Colonna, and Louis' first serious passion.t *The name, or its equivalent, Adeodatus, of St. Augustine's son, before this great Father of the Church's conversion, or baptism. Also of two Popes of the seventh century, under the same name of Adeodatus. + His earliest seductress was Madame de Beauveau, his mother's first lady of the bedchamber-though, blind of an eye, far from handsome, and no longer young, while he was still in his teens, and consequently no difficult conquest. 2 Y VOL. II. |